1317163 - UX/UI review of identity auth window

Status: NEW

(WebExtensions :: General, enhancement, P5)

Description

[Shane Caraveo (:mixedpuppy)]

The identity api opens a window so addons can have users authorize with a service.  Should this happen in a tab instead?  What about authorizations from non-browser windows?

Comment 1

[:shell escalante]

markus - wasn't sure who on UX to assign this to.  please move to correct person if it's not you. :)

Comment 2

[Markus Jaritz [:markus] (UX)]

Shane, is this already built? How can I test the current implementation?
How does Chrome solve this? Do you know a Chrome extension which which I could experience their implementation?

Comment 3

[Markus Jaritz [:markus] (UX)]

I found a related issue in chromium that might help us learn how we should implement:
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=466154

Comment 4

[Shane Caraveo (:mixedpuppy)]

You can find an example addon here:
https://github.com/mixedpuppy/webextensions-examples/tree/master/identity

It's waiting to be merged to the mdn repo.  The README has setup instructions.

The API implemented is this: https://developer.chrome.com/apps/identity#method-launchWebAuthFlow

The issue you linked to above shows what I have seen in Chrome, on Chrome a popup dialog is used to display the login pages from the services.  The sole difference is that I've left the url bar in place.  I feel it is important to show the domain being logged into.

The preference put forth by Kris in bug 1305421 is to place the logins into a tab and only use a dialog if/when the front window is not a tabbed browser window.  For simplicity sake I prefer to leave it in a popup window.

Comment 5

[Markus Jaritz [:markus] (UX)]

(In reply to Shane Caraveo (:mixedpuppy) from comment #4)
> The issue you linked to above shows what I have seen in Chrome, on Chrome a
> popup dialog is used to display the login pages from the services.  The sole
> difference is that I've left the url bar in place.  I feel it is important
> to show the domain being logged into.

I agree. Showing the URL gives users the option to validate the URL before entering their credentials.

> The preference put forth by Kris in bug 1305421 is to place the logins into
> a tab and only use a dialog if/when the front window is not a tabbed browser
> window.  For simplicity sake I prefer to leave it in a popup window.

Having it as a popup in every case sounds like a consistent first step. I assume the most likely place to trigger an identity auth window would be a button in the toolbar, or it's attached doorhanger. (both no tabbed browser windows)
We could do a follow up on making it a tab in some cases if we see that many extensions implement tabs that initiate the identity auth window.

Comment 6

[Shane Caraveo (:mixedpuppy)]

(In reply to Markus Jaritz [:designakt prev :maritz] (UX) from comment #5)
> Having it as a popup in every case sounds like a consistent first step. I
> assume the most likely place to trigger an identity auth window would be a
> button in the toolbar, or it's attached doorhanger. (both no tabbed browser
> windows)
> We could do a follow up on making it a tab in some cases if we see that many
> extensions implement tabs that initiate the identity auth window.

This can be initiated anywhere an addon can run code.  Could be a devtool addon, a panel, button, background page, etc.  However the interaction is pretty poor from a panel (as it would be with a tab) since the panel closes and cannot be programmatically reopened.  It is implemented per documentation which implies that user interaction is not required, but highly recommended.

Comment 7

[Markus Jaritz [:markus] (UX)]

un-assigning my self as it looks it has become less of a priority, and I really haven't gotten around focusing on it.

Comment 8

[Firefox Bug Husbandry Bot]

Bulk move of bugs per https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1483958

Comment 9

[Ryan Kelly [:rfkelly]]

Via feedback from not-yet-publicly-released project that I'm not going to link to from this public bug:

[Greg Tatum 9:56 AM]: Feedback: The sign in opened in a new window with limited browser chrome. I usually sign in through the lastpass menu item, and it's not present. I would prefer having it as a normal tab.